Lady Cultivator

Mo Tiange held the stone in her hand and looked at it for a long time. It was a Qiyun Stone that she got from Wanderer Ziwei then was forgotten about, deep in the Qiankun Bag.

The Qiyun Stone wasn’t big and was only the size of a child’s fist. However, Qin Xi said it was rare to see such a big Qiyun Stone. He once saw a smaller Qiyun Stone than this.

Fine, she wasn’t greedy and was just happy to have it. But the thing was, with such a small Qiyun Stone, it wouldn’t allow any waste when refining magic weapons. It could support two refining opportunities at most, which was too much of a requirement on one’s tool-refining abilities.

She really didn’t have much talent in tool-refining. She had practiced it all these years, but she could only refine magic tools now, and her success rate wasn’t high at all. Originally, she intended to ask a Master of Refining in the sect to help her refine magic weapons, but if the Qiyun Stone she had could only be used twice, she wouldn’t even dare to leave it to a Master of Refining.

The refining of natal magic weapons wasn’t like refining an ordinary magic weapon. The refining of natal magic weapons required the cultivator to have an inner connection with the weapon, so the cultivator had to be present during the process. The Master of Refining had to know details about both the cultivator and magic weapon, such as when the blood essence should be added and to what effect it must achieve.

The best method would be for her to refine it herself. But in that case, she needed to spend a lot of energy and time improving her art of tool-refining.

“It’s so troublesome…” she murmured to herself.

“What trouble?” Qin Xi, who was healing his injuries with his legs crossed at her side, opened his eyes and gave her a look.

Mo Tiange held the Qiyun Stone in her hand and said, “I have the materials now, but it’s so troublesome to do the refining. I just wanted a magic weapon imagined by Primordial Lady Bishui, but it’s never been tested to see if it’d work. More importantly, the materials are so scarce.”

Qin Xi said, “You should refine it yourself. Asking someone else to help refine your own natal magic weapon isn’t as good as refining it on your own.”

Mo Tiange formed a bitter smile. “If only it were that easy, but I’m not so good at tool-refining.”

“Just learn; it’s not that hard.”

Hearing such an understated sentence, Mo Tiange glared at him. “It’s easy for you to say that, but not everyone has good talents in tool-refining.”

Qin Xi raised his eyes. “I think you have good pill-concocting skills. You know, to some extent, pill-concocting and tool-refining are the same thing. Technically, you should also have good tool-refining skills.”

“No, it’s not the same.” She obtained her good pill-concocting skills from numerous spirit herbs, but where could she get so many materials to improve her tool-refining skills? If she chose to buy them without restraint, that would be too noticeable.

“Why?”

“… You’ll find out later.”

Qin Xi didn’t say anything more. He just stared at her with a look that disturbed her.

Mo Tiange felt uneasy all over under his gaze. “What are you looking at? How are your injuries?”

Qin Xi turned to show his back. “Do you want to check it?”

“Just forget it…” she murmured. Such a wound looked terrible, but after a few days, it would heal without scarring especially for a cultivator. He was clearly trying to take the opportunity… and do something else.

Surely, Qin Xi was quite disappointed, but he seemed unwilling to give up and added, “Really? Don’t you want to check it?”

Mo Tiange rolled her eyes at him and put away the Qiyun Stone, continuing to ponder the magic weapon.

Their meridian injuries had recovered significantly since they helped heal each other. Now, Qin Xi’s injuries were mostly flesh wounds and he would recover in a few days, while Mo Tiange’s injuries were in her divine sense. She looked safe and sound on the surface, but she would need several years of warm nourishing.

“When should we go up?”

The sudden question made Qin Xi lose his smile, and the way he looked at her became quite meaningful. “Don’t you want to stay here a few more days?”

“Don’t we have work to do?” Mo Tiange didn’t notice his expression as she lowered her head. “I always feel uneasy until I finish my job.”

“…”

He said nothing more. They just did their own thing separately.

They were within the mountain of Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak. There was devil aura outside, but it was blocked by the restrictions they set. It wasn’t too much to say that this was the safest place on Demonic Mountain. It had been seven or eight days since the mountain opened, and there were already many cultivators who encountered danger out there. If they wanted to preserve their strength, nothing would be better than just staying here.

Originally, he thought it’d be best to stay for another seven days. Half a month would be enough time for them to get things done, and they wouldn’t be disturbed here…

*Rumble…* Suddenly, a loud crash came from somewhere then the whole mountain mass began to shake.

“What happened?” Sensing that the little cave they were in was also shaking, Mo Tiange’s expression changed. “Will this mountain also collapse?”

Qin Xi’s expression was serious. Within such a short time, through the gap at the cave entrance, they saw numerous rocks rolling down. The defensive restriction they set outside to block devil aura couldn’t stand the trembling and swaying, and it didn’t take long for it to break down.

“Something bad happened! Some big restriction must’ve collapsed!”

Mo Tiange was stunned. “Like what happened 80 years ago?”

Qin Xi shook his head. “It shouldn’t be as bad as it was 80 years ago, but the problem is that it happened very close to us this time.” As he finished speaking, he went to pull Mo Tiange and released the Three Yang Real Fire Sword, forming a defensive sword formation around them. “Where’s your defensive magic weapon?”

Mo Tiange fumbled in her Qiankun Bag and took out her White Silk Handkerchief, which turned into mist to surround them.

The shaking became more and more violent, and the two pulled each other tightly so that they could barely stand steadily. Fortunately, the cave they were in was deep into the mountain; it was small and strong, showing no sign of collapse.

The shaking didn’t stop for almost an hour, and there was still a lot of rubble falling down from above. Mo Tiange couldn’t help but ask while raising her head, “Why’s it lasting so long?”

Qin Xi said, “When your father and I were trapped here those seven days, rocks fell for the first three days and almost buried us here. When we later got out and went to the top, we discovered that the towering mountain was actually even. Rest assured, it’ll be fine.”

Mo Tiange wasn’t worried at all. With their magic weapons and high cultivation levels, even if the restrictions on Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak collapsed, they could stay here and would have no trouble defending their lives. It was just that she was afraid the restriction at the entrance might reappear ahead of time because of influence and trap them on the mountain…

The rumbling became louder. There were more and more stones rolling down as they watched through the gap. The expressions on both of their faces turned serious—it seemed the noises were too loud.

Suddenly, they saw a dark figure through those stones. In an instant, a flash of white light cut in the gap of the cave entrance then a men wearing black jumped over and came inside.

“Ahem!” The man cleared his voice twice. He was covered with rock debris and dust, looking a mess.

He dusted off the debris on his sleeves and pulled out the flying sword stuck in the cave entrance, then turned his head and saw them. He was stunned. “You two are here?”

It was Jing Xingzhi. He sized them up very carefully then looked at their hands that were intertwined together, forming a faint smile. “You two really picked a good place… Surely no one would disturb you here.”

Qin Xi didn’t like him to start with, and now that he even said such a vulgar sentence, Qin Xi’s face immediately darkened. “Fellow Daoist Jing, would you please show some respect!”

“Ahem!” Jing Xingzhi said as he dusted off his clothes. “How did I not show respect? I didn’t accuse you falsely.” As he spoke, he glanced at Qin Xi. “See, Fellow Daoist Shoujing, humans have desires and sex is the biggest one of them. Why should you hide it?”

“Jing Xingzhi!” Qin Xi shouted to stop his nonsense!

“Okay, okay!” Jing Xingzhi waved his hand and said with no attention, “You have a thin skin, so I won’t talk about that, alright?” Then he made affectionate eyes at Mo Tiange and continued, “What a pity, Fellow Daoist Qingwei—we met too late.”

Now Qin Xi kept silent and directly waved his hand, showing his Three Yang Real Fire Sword.

Upon seeing this, Jing Xingzhi surrendered. “Fine, I really am afraid of you. It was just a joke. Why are you so boring?” Then he continued unreservedly, “Let me hide somewhere in your place.” As he finished, the sword light flashed again and his flying sword was inserted into the stone. He held the flying sword and looked outside alertly.

From the way he looked, he was obviously on guard against something. Mo Tiange asked, “Fellow Daoist Jing, why are you here?”

Jing Xingzhi still kept looking outside and answered thoughtlessly, “What else? We were set up by those two old men. But you were wise and left early.”

As he brought this up, he attracted Qin Xi’s attention.

Jing Xingzhi turned and glanced at them and said, “I would’ve guessed Kumu and Tong Tianyun, those two old guys, must’ve had other motives. But we’ve been friends for hundreds of years anyway, and I wasn’t too wary of them. We originally intended to travel separately at the bottom of Tens of Thousands of Feet Peak, but they said the purpose of this visit was going to Immortal’s Ruins, so the three of us followed them…”

“Did you get to Immortal’s Ruins smoothly?” Qin Xi asked.

Jing Xingzhi shook his head. “It wasn’t smooth at all. Madam Feng’s wounds were getting worse and worse, so they abandoned her when crossing the Ruoshui River. Lei Dongqing went back to save her but then died in the Ruoshui River with her. Alas, who could’ve predicted that? I originally thought Lei Dongqing just liked Madam Feng because of her beauty so he liked flirting with her occasionally. I didn’t expect him to be a fool. What a pity…”

Qin Xi and Mo Tiange looked at each other, feeling both surprised and blessed in secret. Luckily they got out in time; otherwise, even if they were on guard ahead of time, it would’ve definitely caused a bunch of trouble if they were involved.

“What happened to you then? Why did you fall from above? Didn’t you get to Immortal’s Ruins with them?”

Jing Xingzhi nodded. “As Lei Dongqing and Madam Feng died, I realized the two old guys didn’t hold good intentions at all. They only used us the entire way, but I’d already followed them halfway. Not to mention turning against them, but I didn’t even know how to advance or retreat by myself. So I had to march on with them, and fortunately, nothing too dangerous happened afterwards.”

“Then why did you come down from up there? You were set up by them?”

“I jumped down by myself.” Although he almost lost his life on Demonic Mountain, Jing Xingzhi’s expression still looked neutral as if he held no hatred toward Kumu and Tong Tianyun at all. “Those two old guys—it turned out they made prior arrangements with several Nascent Soul predecessors to meet before Immortal’s Ruins, and it seemed they wanted to follow them in and look for treasure. They left me outside when entering Immortal’s Ruins. Not long after, a restriction in Immortal’s Ruins collapsed. I don’t know if it was them who triggered the restriction, but as soon as I saw something bad might be happening, I gritted my teeth and jumped down from above, and now I’ve finally saved my life.”

“It turns out that’s what they really intended…” Qin Xi fell into deep consideration.

Jing Xingzhi turned and showed a smiling face. “Look, Fellow Daoist Shoujing, we’ve been friends for at least a hundred years, and now that we’re in trouble together, would you mind carrying me when you go up?”